PsychoticWarrior's page

That is EXACTLY how the game was initially designed back in the days of Gary Gygax, and strangely, the game was still popular. I don't know what changed...

I do.

People learned that there was more than just one way to play, and to find the one they enjoyed the most.

You should have gone all improved sunder, LOL. Can't shatter at will? I'll show you.

Notice that my comment runs both ways. DMs are players too. Make the experience less enjoyable for the DM and he might go watch Netflix.

Nevertheless, the proper response to figuring out an erroneous reading of the rules 4 HOURS AGO is NOT to rewind and replay those 4 hours.

Lex Starwalker wrote:

Personally, I don't find complaining on a public messageboard about someone who has taken the time and effort to come up with a campaign and run it for me a valuable use for my time.

If I had a DM that did something that bothered me that much, I would just quit playing in his game and find another DM. If you can't appreciate what your DM puts into your gaming experience (compared to the time and effort you as a player put in) enough to overlook the things you don't agree with, then I suggest you find another DM to play with. Or run a game yourself.

What you're trying to do here just spreads negativity.

SO rather than work out your difficulties with a DM (who putlots of hard work into the campaign as you stated) you'd just leave the game mid-stride? Without a word of explanation? Oh yeah, that's loads better than coming to a mutual understanding and compromise. Very mature.

Agreed.

When a player leaves my campaign, I consider it a favor if they tell me why they're leaving, at the very least. I can always disregard their wishes, if I just don't agree. Ranting and rage-quitting aside, a heads-up is better than just flaking out.

They player really just wants to keep the horse because it doesn't eat and ever gets tired. While my alternatives do, the player refuses to look past that...

This just keeps going more and more from the ridiculous to the absurd...

Good luck Tatsua. The more you describe the situation, the more convinced I am that the horse is not really the issue here.

I've had Combat Expertise since level 1, and I'm doing fine.

Oh, I also do things other than deal damage, like both tripping and disarming two opponents in a single turn, with an AoO to spare.

See, the thing is that the stuff you're talking about (Improved Trip and Improved Disarm) is just fine and is interesting, but also has nothing to do with Combat Expertise and Combat Expertise itself contributes little to nothing of interest to play. You can have exciting, fun characters with Combat Expertise, but all that Combat Expertise is doing is serving as a speed bump in front of the exciting, fun combat styles you actually were building the character towards.

Removed some posts. Just because you can type stuff like rapey sexualized "metaphors" into the little box and hit "submit post" doesn't mean it's OK. I've also edited the thread title. Wishing violence on actual human beings is not cool here, ever.

Welcome.

Figured out how to list all the foot and mounted figures in GW's current range:

GW minis foot/mounted sets

This is an unusual one that caught my eye which would work nicely for a gunslinger:
Highwayman

GW makes many of the Lord of the Rings miniatures in mounted/foot sets that would be suitable for a Cavalier. This is one example: Prince Imrahil

Other miniatures from the same range: LOTR Heroes and Command

I think that people react negatively to some of your posts less because of your hardline stance against metagaming and rules bending/breaking and more because of the tone and the rhetorical tactics used. For example, you're sometimes oddly aggressive while simultaneously obviously wrong, which isn't a ingratiating combination, then when somebody points out corrections or other viable interpretations, you go off the rails, backpedal, move goalposts, and (with increasing frequency) start multiple other threads on the exact same topic for no clear reason. The reason you're encountering opposition at every turn is not (primarily) due to your positions themselves (well, except for the positions that are indefensible and transparently erroneous, such as the notion that free access to every wildshape form is "abusive"), but the way you present them and the way you respond to responses.

I don't know if you're under the impression that the threads you create look like a guy standing up for sanity against a world of people bending rules and metagaming, but they don't. They look like a guy who doesn't have much idea what he's talking about being bizarrely hostile towards everyone else, ignoring contrary evidence and challenges to his position and using piles of classic weaselly debate techniques to keep an argument going. That's what the new players who you want to help are seeing. You can't help being demonstratively wrong when you're demonstratively wrong, but you can help being hostile, which not only looks better to the new players, but avoids attracting total beatdowns on your position. As people in the druid wildshape thread suggested, with a little grace you could have had a thread that actually won respect for your position, instead of a thread full of people badgering you about your use of "abusive".

This post isn't intended to be an attack, but seriously, man, a little grace, kindness and openness would complement the passion you have way better than threats and combatitiveness.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, which has always had gunpowder weapons. But, that is a lo-fantasy setting, not a hi-fantasy setting. Less magic.

memorax wrote:

One can also say that Pathfinder plays lie a video game as much as an rpg. If some insist on using the 4E = MMO reference.

I'm sorry, I have to call BS on this. If Pathfinder plays like a video game at all, its because most RPG's and MMOs base a lot of their tropes on established "D&D-ism's". Pathfinder is emblematic of much of what makes D&D special. I understand you have a knee jerk reaction to people here talking smack about 4th, but seriously, that dog will not hunt.

I'm a big fan of people trying to describe how 4e is like WoW-on-paper. It starts with the implicit assumption that if 4e has any similarities with WoW, those similarities must be bad, and then it's all downhill from there. It usually goes something like, "But 4e has cooldowns just like WoW!" followed by, "So what? Is there something wrong with cooldowns?" followed by, "They don't belong in my D&D!" followed by, "Sure they do, here's a list of cooldown mechanics in your favorite edition of D&D," followed by gibbering.

4e is emblematic of much of what makes D&D special. Pathfinder is emblematic of much of what makes D&D special. You, and the specific game you like most, do not get to unilaterally declare that something is or isn't D&D-special (whatever that means).

"WoW-on-paper" is just the current edition war's meaningless go-to attack of choice. We had "Diablo-on-paper" back in 2000, and it was stupid then, too. Here's an idea: if you really played 4e for years and have enough experience with it to identify its strong and weak points, then you ought to have enough wherewithal to describe those weak points instead of hitting it with a WoW-sized bludgeon.

NEUTRAL

HW, here's the bitter truth: you're upset that his character appears on paper to be more powerful than yours.

That means that you too have succumbed to the competitive mindset that creates this very thing that you hate.

You ask in your own post "how can I let this go?", which makes me think you can still rise above this. How do you counter this "min-maxing" that irks you so? By role-play.

Your ranger should be proud to have such a powerful ally. Look to your own character and find ways to improve him if you are having a hard time with the challenges in the game — if not, leave spotlight management to the GM. That's his/her job.

I presume there's an adventure, and that the druid is your ranger's ally in some important cause. Focus on that. Role-play your character, and leave the character-sheet envy in the real-world, where it belongs.

EDIT: Another way to look at it: if he was actually playing a second ranger in the party, would that upset you too? In some ways, this is like having a second ranger — no enemy can escape the two of you in the wilderness. You have overlapping strengths, and that simply means the party has specific strengths. Depending on the scenario, that can be really cool. You just need to learn to like his character as a part of your own character's story. This is a game that favors stories about teamwork, after all. No PC is an island, etc.

You know, the ONLY thing remotely wrong about the other guy's playstyle is his lack of RP. Mentioning to him "hey, do you even know who you are?" is totally viable. But there is nothing whatsoever wrong with building the best possible character, every time.

It's a fallacy to suggest that 'roll playing' and 'role playing' are at the opposite ends of a continuum, and that optimizing your character somehow makes your personality deficient.

Honestly, as you look at his optimized but boring character with scorn, he could look back at your evidently compelling but comparatively weaker character with the same. I think this is a good opportunity for you two to sit down and help each other, especially since having a party full of characters with good interactions who also are all at about the same power level makes DMs very happy.

Also, last time I checked, Druids were Divine Casters, and thus had no Spell Failure Chance.

Or you could have a child and found a dynasty....

First off, this is unalloyed goodness. I have grown irritated today by the number of people on Facebook and other arenas who've said "Yeah, it's great but that doesn't change the fact that 4th Edition sucks." or "Yeah, it's okay, but Wizards has a way to go before I'll lift the curse I placed on their headquarters." or "Yeah, it's nice and all, but it's only a cheap marketing gimmick."

Bleaugh. I'm on the record: It's a good thing, period.

Secondly, if you live in Austrailia and you're interested in a set, I'll see what I can do to pick one up for you. We'll either figure out postage, or else I'll grab Wes when he comes up north to visit during Origins this year, and we'll give him an extra suitcase to carry back with him.

I would definitely buy some collected modules. B series, X series, Tournament series, etc.

First edition played completely differently. We would sit around the table with our friends and make jokes about Monty Python and the Holy Grail, nothing like the way the game is played today.

I, Sebastian the Awesome, pledge to render unto the world a hellscape of flame wars. I will rip tears from the eyes of my fellow posters, insult their hygiene, and imply that they have contracted a particularly vicious strain of syhpilis that has damaged their reasoning ability beyond repair. By making a different choice or having a different preference than me, such posters are clearly morons of the first caliber, and should be mocked and harrassed until they STFU and DIAF.

Signed

SEBASTIAN THE AWESOME

Or maybe, rather than go to "war", everyone should just blindly go along with whatever the industry leader produces without voicing concerns or opposition or alternative? Oh wait, circa 2008 you certainly would not have wanted that. Maybe today you would though, ha! ;)

Customers choosing where to spend their money isn't a war. What I'm talking about is trash-talking the choices other people make, which is uncool and doesn't help either the conversation or the health of this industry as a whole.

I have many fine memories of games and good times with my friends gathered around the DM screen and a bowl of chips. I was wondering, what was the craziest, boneheaded stunt either you or one of your players has ever pulled? Successful or not.

For myself, I was playing a 10th level human barbarian named Joachim. He was CG, loud, good-natured, and lord was he an arrogant snot (even if he couldn't read or write!). Well, my group was involved in a dungeon crawl through this mage's tower, and we were in the process of climbing this long spiral stair.

About halfway to the top (120' to the bottom; I said it was a long climb), we get attacked by a pair of Vrocks! We took the first one down quickly, but the second was smart. Well, I quickly got frustated, because the Vrock just stayed out of reach and hit us again and again with spell-like abilities--the cheater! Finally, I decided that Joachim would be just about in a full rage, and turned to the DM.

"I charge the Vrock", I said.

Play came to a halt.

"You what?" he asked.

"I charge him! You can make a Jump check as part of movement, so I charge him!"

Jaws went slack, but the DM chuckled and waved his hand for me to roll the dice. I tied in initiatve with the party wizard (Artos) and started psyching myself, yelling at the Vrock, "You're mine, bird-brain! I'm coming for YOU!"

Well, my turn rolled around, and I rolled my jump check. Natural 20, praise the lord and pass the ammuntion! Cleared the gap and made it to the Vrock, and then the DM asked me a question.

"Are you going to take your attack before you fall?"

I looked at my group and said, "Nope, I'm going to grapple him and bite his neck apart."

The DM nodded and chuckled again and then he finished with the wizard's spell before rolling my stupid stunt. The rest of the party just shook their heads and one of them asked the cleric if he had prepared raise dead. Well, the wizard wasn't planning on it being successful, but he had just one high level spell left memorized: phantasmal killer. He penetrated the spell resistance, and the Vrock rolled a 3 and a 2, failing both saves and dying from fear.

So, as Joachim is hurtling through the air, he sees the Vrocks eyes widen in terror, he slams into him and gets a successful grapple, and the Vrock dies from fright!

Well, we both drop 120' feet like a pair of stones. And the DM rolls my falling damage, and I have never seen so many 1s and 2s, which made me grin even more!

Twenty minutes later, the rest of the party makes it all the way back down the staircase to find me sitting on the bottom riser at 3 hit points! First thing I do is turn to the party and say, "Yep, I scared 'em to death. Damn, I'm good." As the cleric hits me with a cure critical.

The whole party broke down laughing, except the guy playing the wizard, who kept insisting he had killed the Vrock. And (in-character), Joachim placed his hand on the little guys shoulder. "And aren't you out of spells for the day, Artos?"

"Well, no, I still got feather fall left, but yes, no attack spells."

"Good, then it's settled. I killed the demon, scared him to death. I'd hate to get mad at a spell-caster that ain't got no spells left for the day because he just told me I fell 120' when I didn't have to."

And Artos blinked twice, before he said. "Yep, you scared him to death."

I just grinned at the group, and they started laughing again. God, that character was so much fun!

Master Arminas

Wait! Beiber's a dude?

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Don't get me wrong. Half my players have wives and kids, and sometimes the wives call to ask for something (like grab some milk when on your way home, that kind of stuff). I have absolutely NOTHING against that.

It's not even a question of slowing down the game... If, when we're playing, I see someone constantly texting or taking ordinary cell calls, then that tells me that you'd rather be somewhere else doing something else, than being here playing with us. It just kills the mood.

Texting and/or talking on the cell phone while your doing stuff with people (be it playing RPGs or dinning at a restaurant) is rude and impolite. If you can't see that, well, you're rude and impolite.

Ultradan

Same as any other social Situation, it's rude and disruptive. I have stopped people from doing it, as it detracts from the game.

While it's bad that this supposed "author" can publish hate like he does it's better than censorship.
I can only imagine what kind of person makes a living off of hacking up literary classics to make them modern or socially relevant.

When the politically correct version of Grimm's fairy tales were published they at least knew it was all tongue in cheek and satirical. I guess this guy didn't get the memo.

For me this one falls under " I may not agree with what you say but will defend unto the death your right to say it"

As of today it would be the Reaper mini on the Paizo webpage!

The day after we captured them my PC prepped and cast detect chaos/detect evil. A strategy that has helped us in identifying who our lawful allies are and who is chaotic or evil.

Remember that the Detect Evil/Law/Chaos/Good spells don't register ANY alignment for creatures with 5 or fewer HD unless they are aligned directly with a deity like a cleric or paladin, or are outsiders.

Check the table at the bottom of the spell page for more info.

I see these spells being played improperly all the time and only recently (at the beginning of my Kingmaker campaign) realized that we had been doing it wrong ourselves. It makes it much more interesting to not know anything about the alignments early in this campaign.

-Lisa

I'd like to add a voice in my never-ceasing crusade to prune AP's from anything that's not directly game-related.

While I am very happy with the idea of Pathfinder fiction and I'm glad to see novels, ePubs and Tales, I consider these few pages wasted on me, and would very much prefer to see support articles, bestiaries and other Cool Little Things instead.

I strongly believe that the above-mentioned venues for fiction can be used to satisfy the demand and allow for APs to be a pure gaming products.

And it's not like the AP format wasn't tampered with before (Set Pieces and Pregens, I am looking at you).

Set Pieces and Pregens had two things going against them—a relatively vocal dislike that wasn't really countered by any real rah-rahs (despite folks not liking fiction in the AP, there are a LOT of folks who are quite vocal that they do like it, something that neither Set Pieces and Pregens really had), and the difficulty in creating them.

The fact that the fiction is handled by James Sutter gives me, Rob, and Wes a much needed breather to get the other 90 or so pages of Pathfinder AP out on a relatively monthly schedule. Believe it or not, adding 6 more pages of editing game content to any of us could be the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back... ESPECIALLY if those extra 6 pages are an entirely new feature and not an addition to existing feature page counts.

We've done over 50 Adventure Path volumes so far, so we're pretty knowledgable about our skills and resources and the limits of those skills and resources when it comes to producing a monthly 96 page product. As a result, the AP volumes are a relatively well-honed and well-oiled machine these days, and anything that involves drastic changes to that make me VERY nervous.

We are not cutting the fiction.

It is a fundamental part of the AP mix.

I get that some people don't like it, but it is here to stay.

The end. :)

As a (somewhat) long time member of the WotC boards, I would point out that the largest population slice I would call disruptive, trolling, flame-baiting jerks have a tendency to be people who show up on those boards for little reason other than to tell people how horrible WotC, 4e, and (strongly suggested by extension, or more frequently, outright said) anyone who plays the system.

There are, unfortunately, plenty of 4e fans who respond with the same misguided vitriol, which is a damned shame if you ask me.

There are things I love about both product lines, and plenty of flaws to go around too, in my (never humble) opinion, but there's a strong difference between disliking something and pointing out its flaws, and a desire to see a product fail or harm befall its creators and purchasers because you hate it.

While I don't really endorse this thread, I'd like to point out something to everyone here:

Swinging (real) swords, building old cars, making your own beer and table-top RPG gaming are all hobbies that share something in common: they have all been replaced by a more modern equivalent, and have a limited "normal" growth. All of these hobbies rely on being passed down by friends, family and local culture, because there is a quicker, easier, more accessible variant of all of them.

What's more shocking is that table top RPG gaming has hobbyists among actors, writers, comedians, porn stars, pop icons, and the rest. In D&D it has a brand recognition that is big enough to be considered a frickin' commercial superpower... But what happens when some new kid tries to take the plunge? What happens when they walk into a gaming store or hop in an internet community board?

"NO FU, THAT GAME IZ RONG AND UR RONG 4 LIKIN IT!"
"NO U"
"NO UR FACE!!! HA BURN"
"IB4TL LULZ"
"PEEPUL WHO PLAY UR GAME SHUD DIAF I HOP U GET TEH AIDS"

We've got a community with a (I pray) minority of incredibly vocal, narcissistic, elitist jackholes that have nothing to be particularly smug about, unless poor behavior and sociopathic tendencies suddenly become an olympic event.

...And we egg them on.

Good job. D&D won't die today, table-top won't be gone next year or even next decade, but with the loudest parts of the community insisting on shouting at eachother, wishing ill on people who disagree with them, and hoping for nothing but misery to the people who play differently than they do, it won't be around much longer than you folks will.

Enjoy it while it lasts, I guess.

However, I will let the Wizards D&D forums speak for themselves.

I read those forums sometimes, and I feel that you are much more likely to get attacked on the forums here. Some fans here simply view anything critical of Paizo as a personal attack, and respond with attacks of their own.

It has been my experience that it's much harder to discuss anything related to Paizo or WotC here, unless it's praise (Paizo) or damnation (WotC). It doesn't help that there are a few 'usual suspects' who are self-confessed enemies of 4E and who again and again try to inflame threads with their broad statements denouncing 4E or WotC.

I'm a fan of both Paizo and WotC, but I feel that just because I like their work, I should still be able to have a critical discussion of some of the weaker points in their respective products or services. It's a sad thing that so many posters disagree, and overreact.

The title of this thread is clearly missing "ZOMG" and "BBQ"

Wait, is the OP that guy who rates adventures 1-star when his PC has hard time in them? Ah yes. Well, this one is gonna be fun *grabs popcorn*

Ability scores are the game's difficulty setting.

10 point-buy: hard mode
15 point-buy: standard mode
20 point-buy: easy mode
25 point-buy: no challenge mode

I run all my games at 15pb, and it works out just fine. The PCs can't just kick-in-the-door, but with a little planning, the standard AP isn't very difficult with "only" 15pb.

You know what bothers me? Jerks.

Discussions of builds and balance are great as long as the participants are well-adjusted people with whom you would want to have a discussion.

Let's be honest, the Pathfinder RPG itself does not discourage a very gamist style of play. It places a huge emphasis on gaming character creation when compared with just about any other RPG I can think of. Character creation in Pathfinder is more akin to building a M:tG deck than in any other system; a game-wide review of short-form rules clauses that you are rewarded for combining in unique and unforeseen ways. Most games aren't like that. So there's a definite attraction for certain types of player.

This is a forum for the discussion of that game. It makes sense that people who are attracted to those features of the system should want to congregate and discuss it. I think that's great, so long as they're not oppressive jerks about it.

I wish that people (including the OP here) would stop trying to blame jerkiness on a single style-of-play or an edition or a background; suspiciously never the poster's own. Jerks are just jerks. There are definitely jerks who adopt a "role-playing superiority complex" just as there are jerks who abuse rules and jerks who insist that a narrow set of options are the only good ones.

Q. why do you play (add class here) they suck so much

A. they don't suck they made it in the book didn't they?

b. shouldn't you be doing your actual job not being on forums all day long?

c. seriously the hole where you put pie? shut it.

d. don't break your fingers with all that furious debating and forum posting, i am sure you wife understands how important it is to declare the (insert class here) sucks. you are so misunderstood

Firefly is the greatest show in the history of television. This is an irrefutable fact, so don't try to refute it!

attempts to refute

I said DON'T!

walks away dejected